On our first full day at Turtle Bay, we explored a little further afield.

The first few photographs were taken before breakfast, showing the beach with its trees and the coconut palms near our rooms.

Buffet breakfast was served in the main restaurant off the hotel lobby (which meant climbing all the steps from our room). One side of the restaurant was open, overlooking a pond and the weaver birds. Most of the time that was where we sat.

The walk down from the main lobby to our room was pretty interesting. First of all the path cut between two ponds, with trees and weaver birds. The one on the right featured a turtle fountain called Leonardo. 

After passing the cat restaurant and the main hotel block, on the left was a walled area containing live tortoises.

Finally, a covered walkway alongside the pool lead down to our room, home to gecko clinging upside down to the underside of the roof.

After breakfast, we went for a walk along the road outside the hotel, turning North towards the village of Watamu.

A few hundred yards from the entrance we came across the local Catholic church.

The road had little shade, so we got very warm (and on the way back my sandal broke so walking was not easy), but there was a lot to see.

The local shop looked more like a lock up garage than a shop, but was obviously very practical in the climate. We were not supposed to photograph the Office of the President, but escaped detection.

The array of signs in the middle photograph is at the T-junction at the end of the road that links Watamu with Gede on the main Malindi to Mombasa Road.

The two shots at the bottom show the local hotel, rather different to the tourist hotels on the other side of the road, and a very attractive flower lined path.

Watamu is a strange mixture of well appointed tourist hotels and local dwellings. The contrast is marked, but the locals are at pains to point out that tourism brings money into the area and results in convenient supplies of fresh water.

Few tourists seem to venture outside of their hotels, so the majority of people on the roads are locals.

At various points along the road there were cows, hens and goats wandering freely around.

The goat seemed to be having problems controlling all of its legs at the same time.

Apart from the burning sun overhead, there were plenty of reminders of how near we were to the equator, including the bougainvillea and coconut palms.

We turned round short of the village for the hot walk back to the hotel and were glad to get back for a respite from the relentless sun.

We spent the rest of the day doing very little, sitting in shade on the beach near the pool and the restaurant.

There was entertainment most days around 4 in the afternoon and after dinner.

On our first full day the entertainment was a group of children from the local Kambilolo School.

Under the direction of their blind headmaster, playing the accordion, the children danced sang local songs such as Jambo and Kilimajaro. A highlight was a very small girl, who really didn't know what to do, but tried very hard and was very sweet.

After dinner, we stayed around for a little while, but our exertions earlier in the day caught up with us and we were in bed pretty early.